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Current economic trends are encouraging global supply chain managers to utilized air freight and other multimodal alternatives while ocean carriers reduce capacity and increase surcharges. This shift is challenging for supply chain managers who have been primary focused on ocean transport. Most manufacturers perform transportation tenders manually using spreadsheets to compare rates and purchase space using gut feel of market trends. “Neither method is very rational. Nor, do they provide the essential end-to-end decision making visibility to create a strategically oriented framework from which to drive corporate transportation spend initiatives and supply chain efficiency,” states Nick Matyas Freightgate’s VP of Strategic Initiatives.
Freightgate’s GTM-Trek! Global Tender Management Software supports corporate initiatives for multimodal transportation spend management and improvements in supply chain efficiency. Freight Tender RFP / RFQ software has made advances in the last several years to include easy customization, fast implementation, useable templates, historical rate analysis, tracking for total spend, service performance, payment auditing and a slew of statistical reports. These new decision making tools do not guarantee instant success. Data gleaned through initiating transportation spend management will produce many questions and assessments about company goals, strategic direction, carrier selection and logistics partners.
“Freight Tender RFP / RFQ success can be benchmarked in several ways,” Matyas continues. Some manufacturers consider reducing transportation spend as success. Whereas, other manufacturers seek better service guarantees with stronger collaboration and visibility. The corporate goal of reducing freight costs must be thoroughly examined. Reducing transportation spend on an ad-hoc basis without a plan may create an overall deterioration of service and incur additional risks in supply chain efficiency.
Matyas says “It is a well known fact that carriers move high yield shipments first.” Creating a long-term partnership with carriers and freight forwarders is very important. Shifting cargo between carriers and logistics providers; and continually asking for spot bids may reduce transportation spend in the short-term, but in the long-term it could jeopardize the net results gained.
When selecting Freight Tender RFP / RFQ software for transportation spend management, purchase a hosted SaaS Solution. SaaS is known as Software-as-a-Service. Successful freight tender procurement is about collaboration and reducing administrative labor. Logistics managers can focus time on What-If Scenario Analysis investigating the best opportunities to reduce total transportation spend.
A hosted SaaS transportation spend management solution has several advantages. First, it enables real time collaboration between corporate departments and global field offices. It allows for end-to-end collaboration with carriers, freight forwarders and supply chain partners. “It's nice to get a low rate but if the accounting department isn't in the loop this effort might be in vain, especially with the complexity of freight surcharges these days” says Matyas.
Second, a hosted SaaS Solution has a labor-free maintenance advantage. Hosted SaaS Solutions are updated frequently and easy to maintain with the latest technology thereby providing logistics managers essential on-demand visibility with a competitive edge in negotiating with carriers, forwarders and suppliers.
Third, make sure the hosted SaaS transportation spend management solution has RDV technology. RDV is known as Role Dependent View. RDV allows users only to view information which is important to their participation in the tender procurement process. Field offices and suppliers view their part; carriers see their part; forwarders see their part; and corporate management has end-to-end visibility of the entire multimodal transportation spend management process. RDV ensures data confidentially and security.
Fourth, a very important consideration is the multimodal experience of the software provider’s staff. A software provider with in-house logistics and supply chain experts in airfreight, ocean transport and trucking is going to lead the manufacturer to success faster. Manufacturers will be able to leverage the expert’s multimodal experience and insights in the procurement negotiations.
Fifth, be environmentally aware. Select Freight Tender RFP / RFQ software with multimodal carbon footprint functionality. When deciding between rates or service levels knowing the carbon footprint enables well-informed decisions in alignment with corporate ‘green’ initiatives and carbon emissions.
And finally, make sure the Freight Tender RFP / RFQ software is seamless multimodal (ground, air, rail, ocean, last mile delivery) to analyze five-leg door-to-door routings. Customization with reusable templates and fast easy implementation are essential. Selecting the best multimodal transportation spend management software will put the manufacturer in the driver seat, steering the company strategically to better service at a lower total transportation spend.
For more details on how Freightgate can help lower transportation spend and a free demo of Freightgate’s GTM-Trek! Global Tender Management software, contact Freightgate email sales[.]freightgate.com or call.
About Freightgate
Based in Huntington Beach, California, the Freightgate team has been developing SaaS software solutions for the transportation and supply chain logistics since 1994, such as its industry-leading PLTX™ Platform, with I-Trek!® SaaS+plus™ Supply Chain Collaboration & Visibility; GTM-Trek!™ for RFP/RFQ tender management; Tariff-Trek!™ for service contract and quote management; FMC-Trek!™ for fulfilling FMC publishing requirements; Pay-Trek!™ for automated freight bill audit and payment; WISA™ innovative What-If-Scenario Analysis tool; I-Sail!™ interactive online sailing schedule; Compliance-Trek!™ for compliance management with FMC and U.S. Customs 10+2 ISF. Freightgate's customer portfolio contains companies such as Alliance International, APL Logistics, CaroTrans, GeoLogistics (now Agility), Menlo Worldwide Logistics, Nippon Express, Panalpina, Primary Freight, Top Ocean, Dow Corning, Recylum, Screlec and Tembec. Freightgate is ISO 9001:2000 certified.
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